Effect of IT and quality management on performance

Purpose – The present study aims to draw on operations management and information technology literature to examine the effect of three information technology resources (electronic data interchange (EDI), computer‐aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems) and three related quality management capabilities (customer and supplier relations, product and process management, and quality data and workforce management) and their effect on a firm's quality performance. Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses derived from the key features of quality management and information technology presented by previous authors are tested using structural equation modeling through field research on a sample of 229 manufacturing companies in Spain. Findings – Findings from this study indicate that there is significant evidence to support the hypothesized model in which information technology resources (EDI, ERP systems, and CAD/CAM systems) have a direct impact on related quality management capabilities (customer and supplier relations, product and process management, and quality data and workforce management) as well as an indirect impact on quality performance mediated through quality management capabilities. Originality/value – The discrepant findings in the literature suggest the need to identify contingencies that may govern the IT‐performance relationship. This study focuses on the interplay between information technology, quality management, and quality performanc

Benchmarking in the purchasing function: impact on purchasing performance and business performance.

The importance of benchmarking in the achievement of better results in the purchasing function and in overall business performance has been asserted in several textbooks, and in the practitioner and academic literature. However few studies have addressed the implementation of benchmarking in purchasing and its impact on purchasing and business performance. Data was collected from 306 companies and structural equations modeling is used to develop valid and reliable instruments for benchmarking, purchasing performance and business performance. The results show a significant positive impact of benchmarking on purchasing performance and an indirect positive effect on business performance. Implications of the findings for purchasing management are discussed.Catedra Cajamurcia (University of Murcia

Implications for financial market infrastructures of a wholesale central bank digital currency based on distributed ledger technology

An ongoing debate is raging about the possible issuance of a sovereign digital currency by national central banks. This article focuses on one part of this debate, specifically the impact that the issuance of a wholesale central bank digital currency based on distributed ledger technology (DLT)1 could have on financial market infrastructures (FMIs). A sovereign digital currency issued within the network could harness the potential of DLT as an exchange mechanism that, by its very design, mitigates liquidity and credit risks. The article identifies the main areas where this would affect the existing FMIs, classified according to the potential significance of this impact compared with the services these infrastructures currently provide, to allow them to offer enhanced services that would be difficult to achieve with present technology

Relaciones entre riqueza de plantas vasculares y tipos funcionales: Modelos riqueza-área y especies-tipos funcionales

La relación riqueza de especies – área es considerada una de leyes generales en ecología. A través de la riqueza de tipos funcionales se amplía el alcance de la riqueza de especies hacia enfoques de evaluación de la redundancia funcional de la vegetación en plantas vasculares. El objetivo de la investigación fue desarrollar y evaluar de un modelo de la relación riqueza-área y riqueza-especies y tipos funcionales. Para la relación riqueza-área en la literatura abundan los modelos empíricos, donde sobresalen el potencial y el logarítmico. Estos modelos, además de un modelo polinómico de segundo orden, pueden ser utilizados para definir la relación riqueza de especies (S) y de tipos funcionales (Sg). Un modelo propuesto por los autores se basa en la cinética de orden n, en el cual el modelo logarítmico y el potencial son casos particulares. En el análisis de los ajustes estadísticos de los modelos considerados, se utilizó una base de datos de la relación riqueza de especies y de tipos funcionales con relación al área de muestreo (A). Los resultados de la aplicación de regresiones no lineales muestran que el modelo de cinética de orden n resultó ser el modelo con mejor ajuste experimental, aunque los modelos potencial y logarítmico se consideran viables

Efecto de un programa de intervención sobre el estrés percibido, autoestima y rendimiento en jóvenes pilotos de motociclismo de elite

In the motorcycling sport specialty, scientific literature has focused on technology, safety or even on injury variables; however there is little information regarding psychological variables. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of a technical and physical intervention on psychological variables such as self-esteem, self-assessment, appraisal of others and, finally, performance. The sample was made up of twenty-seven young elite road-race motorcyclists who competed in the Red Bull Moto GP Rookies Cup. 16 of whom completed an intervention program (Experimental Group, EG), while the other 14 belonged to the Control Group (CG). We collected the measurements in the first and last race of the season. Our results indicate the EG had controlled the stress level, had a better technique, physical, and psychological conditions, besides better competition performance, in comparison with the CG. We conclude that our intervention program has been effective at maintaining stress levels, bettering technical, tactical and psychological skills, and also improving performance throughout the competition period

Implicaciones de una moneda digital soberana mayorista apoyada en tecnología de registros distribuidos para las infraestructuras del mercado financiero

Existe en la actualidad un debate sobre una posible emisión de una moneda digital soberana por parte de los bancos centrales nacionales. El presente artículo pone su foco sobre una parte de ese debate, concretamente, en el impacto que la emisión de una moneda digital soberana de carácter mayorista, apoyada sobre tecnología de registros distribuidos (distributed ledger technology o DLT1 ), podría suponer para las infraestructuras del mercado financiero (IMF). La moneda digital soberana emitida dentro de la propia red permitiría aprovechar el potencial de la tecnología DLT, al tratarse de un medio de intercambio que mitiga los riesgos de liquidez y de crédito por su propia naturaleza. A lo largo del documento, se han identificado los principales aspectos de las actuales IMF en los que impactaría dicha emisión. Se han clasificado en función de la relevancia que dicho impacto podría tener frente a los servicios prestados en la actualidad por estas infraestructuras, al permitirles alcanzar prestaciones superiores a las que ofrecen actualmente, difícilmente alcanzables con las tecnologías actuales

Hole selective contacts based on transition metal oxides for c-Ge thermophotovoltaic devices

© 2022 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Thermophotovoltaics has become a very attractive solution for heat-to-electricity conversion due to its excellent conversion efficiencies. However, further research is needed to reduce the device cost which is typically based on III-V semiconductors. To tackle this limitation, crystalline germanium (c-Ge) has been proposed as an excellent substrate for low-cost devices. One of the key advances behind high system efficiencies is the excellent reflectance of the out-of-band photons at the rear surface of the photovoltaic device. These photons with lower energy than the absorber bandgap are reflected back to the thermal emitter reducing its thermal losses. In this work, we explore the performance of hole selective contacts based on evaporated transition metal oxides (MoOx, VOx, WOx) to be introduced at the rear surface of c-Ge devices. Regarding electrical properties, we characterize the selectivity of the contact by measuring effective surface recombination velocity (Seff) and contact resistivity (¿C). Best results are obtained with MoOx contacted by Ag/ITO with Seff = 588 cm/s and ¿C = 55.6 mO cm2 which can be improved by using gold as a metal contact leading to Seff = 156 cm/s and ¿C = 60.9 mO cm2. Regarding out-of-band reflectance, it is better for the case of Ag/ITO/MoOx contact with 87.5% compared to 78.9% for Au/MoOx when a 1473 K black body spectrum is used. Device simulations show potential system efficiencies in the range of 18–19% which are comparable to the best reported efficiencies using c-Ge thermophotovoltaic devices.This work has been supported by the Spanish government under projects PID2019-109215RB-C41 (SCALED), PID2020-116719RB-C41 (MATER ONE) and PID2020-115719RB-C21 (GETPV) funded by MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033. The authors would like to thank the master student Oscar Llados ´ and Guillem Ayats for their help in processing the samples, Dr. Alejandro Datas from Instituto de Energía Solar (IES) in Madrid for providing the c-Ge wafers and fruitful discussions.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A demographic history of a population of howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) living in a fragmented landscape in Mexico

Long-term field studies are critical for our understanding of animal life history and the processes driving changes in demography. Here, we present long-term demographic data for the northernmost population of mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) residing in a highly anthropogenically fragmented landscape in Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. We carried out 454 monthly group visits to 10 groups of mantled howler monkeys between 2000 and 2011. The population remained relatively stable over the 11-year study period, with an overall increase in the total number of individuals. Birth rates and inter-birth intervals were comparable to those of howler monkeys at non-fragmented sites, suggesting that living in a fragmented landscape did not affect the reproductive output of our study population. Moreover, despite the landscape, dispersal events were commonplace, including many secondary dispersals (individuals emigrating from groups that they had previously immigrated into). Finally, we found a marked effect of seasonality on the dynamics of our study population. In particular, the period of lowest temperatures and resource scarcity between November and March was associated with higher mortality and reproductive inhibition, while the period of resource abundance between April and May was associated with the majority of conceptions and weaning of offspring. This, in turn, could be influencing dispersal patterns in our study area, as male howler monkeys seem to time some of their immigrations into new groups to coincide with the start of the period of higher fertility, while females preferentially joined new groups several months before the onset of this period. These data have important implications for the conservation and management of howler monkeys in fragmented landscapes, as well as for our understanding of the effect of seasonality over howler monkey dispersal, reproduction and survival

Evolución del control de la corrupción desde la Carta Magna; perspectivas filosófica, ética y constitucional

La Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León en su responsabilidad de socializar y difundir el conocimiento y en conmemoración del Centenario de la Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, generó el presente libro buscando llevar a los lectores, las diferentes vertientes que ha generado la carta magna

Multicrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells based on vanadium oxide heterojunction and laser-doped contacts

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Martín, I., López, G., Plentz, J., Jin, C., Ortega, P., Voz, C., Puigdollers, J., Gawlik, A., Jia, G. and Andrä, G. (2019), Multicrystalline Silicon Thin‐Film Solar Cells Based on Vanadium Oxide Heterojunction and Laser‐Doped Contacts. Phys. Status Solidi A, 216: 1900393, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.201900393. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Liquid phase crystallized (LPC) silicon thin films on glass substrates are a feasible alternative to conventional crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers for solar cells. Due to substrate limitation, a low-temperature technology is needed for solar cell fabrication. While silicon heterojunction is typically used, herein, the combination of vanadium oxide/c-Si heterojunction as emitter and base contacts defined by IR laser processing of phosphorus-doped amorphous silicon carbide stacks is explored. LPC solar cells are fabricated using such technologies to identify their issues and advantages with a promising performance of an active-area efficiency of 5.6%. Apart from the absence of light-trapping techniques, the relatively low efficiency obtained is attributed to a low lifetime in the LPC silicon bulk. These poor material properties imply a short diffusion length that makes it that only photogenerated carriers in the emitter regions can be collected. Consequently, future devices should show narrower base contact regions, suggesting a shorter-wavelength laser, combined with longer LPC substrate lifetimes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft